Being a Professional Instructor
So you have all the training courses under your belt. You know how to create a lesson plan, obtain any necessary props and prepare a budget for your lesson, but do you know what it is to be a professional instructor? The term professional is to say the least subjective and many times the contrary is an accusation tossed out for the sole purpose of winning a disagreement based on pet peeves rather than actual professional standards. So, let’s define being professional focusing on the behavioral aspect rather than subject knowledge.
Being professional is to be a good communicator relative to your expectations (for students and colleagues). Professionalism also includes being respectful by making others feel appreciated, being well groomed/dressed, having a strong work ethic, dependable, honest and flexible. Now let’s illustrate professionalism by highlighting what it isn’t with an emphasis on four major themes. Appearance, conflicts of interest, cursing and racist/sexist etc.remarks.
Being professional starts with your appearance because all students, in this case firefighters, are going to make a judgment on you as soon as they walk through the door. Instructors therefore must be well-groomed and properly dressed. Obviously these two criteria are subjective, but for the most part, firefighters are clean shaven and/or any facial hair would be contained within an SCBA so it’s a good idea to follow that same protocol. One’s actual hairstyle is irrelevant, just as long as you don’t look disheveled like you just rolled out of bed.
As far as dress, business casual is the order of the day. Most instructors have shirts and slacks that have been issued from the employer. If not, most fire departments also issue formal work shirts and that is fine as well. Standard formal wear (business suit) if not issued by the instructor’s employer or department is therefore not necessary because fire service clothing (formal and otherwise) is commonplace. That said, if you as the instructor are going to also participate in any skills or live fire, a change of everyday clothes and of course your turnout gear is perfectly acceptable, full well knowing that you are going to get dirty.
A professional fire instructor must also avoid any conflicts of interest. This is defined as benefitting personally from your professional position. For example, if while instructing firefighters on the use of SCBA you constantly bring up a new feature on “XYZ packs” because you happen to own stock in that company, well that may be considered a conflict of interest because you could benefit personally and monetarily by using your position as an instructor to push a specific product. This is not to say you can’t mention anything but acting like a sales rep as opposed to an instructor is a different ballgame.
Separating personal and professional life has other significance. For example, you may like a fellow instructor as a friend, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have an obligation to report that instructor for substance abuse on the job or ignoring a safety protocol. The latter has been termed the “Courage to be Safe”.
Some fire instructors curse - A LOT. But that’s OK, isn't it? After all, we are adults, correct? Firefighters curse right? The short answer is “No” it isn’t OK. It really does take away from your lesson and your message. Eventually, all the firefighters are going to hear are the curses and not the substance of your lesson in between. What about using a curse to emphasize a concept? Whereas I would concede that this strategy can be effective in helping firefighters retain information the answer is still “No” because there are still so many other words in our lexicon that can be used to emphasize a point that cursing isn’t needed.
Part of this aspect goes back to separating personal and professional, i.e., even if you curse up a storm in your personal life, leave that at home so that aspect doesn’t distract the firefighters in your class and detract from your lesson. Remember to take stock in your audience because cursing is not part of everyone’s language. Of course, none of us are perfect and a curse slipping out is bound to happen. In that case, either simply move on and draw little attention or offer a quick apology and again just move on.
Because the fire service is a male-dominated profession this article will focus on sexist remarks but realistically, any human rights issue can be inserted such as race, religion, sexual orientation etc. As the phrase goes “If you grin you’re in” meaning that if as the instructor you laugh or chuckle at a sexist joke then you become potentially liable for any legal fallout not to mention opening the door for further discrimination. It’s best not to let your class allow any discrimination at all and the best way to do that is once you become aware of any issues to nip it in the bud immediately.
Although calling out a firefighter in front of the entire class is usually not advisable it doesn’t have to be all about embarrassment either. If a sexist joke is made then simply say “We are not going down that road in this class” and leave it at that. If the issue persists then talk to the individual during a break. Seriously, if something went wrong and a downed firefighter needed help getting out does it really matter what gonads the firefighter pulling you out has as long as you get to see your family again? The main point is that we are all firefighters regardless of our attributes.
In extreme cases, make certain that you know the procedure for accepting and investigating a complaint. If the employer that you are instructing for has a specific form to fill out then make sure you have a copy so that all relevant information is obtained. It is imperative in order to maintain the integrity of the instructor and the employing organization to follow all procedures BY THE BOOK. The good news is that typically, it only takes one properly processed incident to stop future issues.
Avoiding these four main “traps” will (barring extenuating circumstances) pave the way for a successful career as an instructor. On a personal note, as a former secondary science teacher, I would like to see fire instructors take any necessary course to become mandated reporters in an effort to curb discriminatory practices both with students and colleagues. Mandated reporters are required and bound by law to report any discriminatory practices with legal consequences for not doing so, and I firmly believe that fire instructors having the status of being a mandated reporter will have the effect of reducing any negative incidents full well knowing that at the end of the day there WILL be consequences.
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